Stamped Death Certificate

A stamped death certificate legally confirms that a person has deceased. Since in legal terms a deceased person is no longer a private entity who can act in its own right, this must be officially recorded by exchanging their passport to a death certificate. This document provides the person’s passport details, deceased date, place of death and death record, protocol number and issue date, as well as death certificate date of issue.

The deceased person’s stamped death certificate is essentially their ID, and is required to order any funeral services.

Where and how to get a stamped death certificate?

Preparing a funeral is important but time consuming. People keep asking “Where and how to get a stamped death certificate?”

In Moscow, death certificates are issued at municipal services offices (MFTs, МФЦ). You’ll have to go to the office that covers the address where the person died, or their last registered residential address.

You can also go to the municipal services office closest to the morgue or hospital were the medical death certificate was issued. If the death had occurred outdoors or in a public place you can address to the municipal services office serving the area where the deceased person was found.

How to have a stamped death certificate issued

The certificate is issued on submission of the following documents:

The deceased person’s passport;

Medical death certificate (issued by the doctor after examination at the hospital or at home);

Passport of the person who submitted for the stamped certificate;

The death certificate is issued to the deceased person’s family or their duly authorized representative. A funeral director can act as the latter. In case it is impossible to produce the deceased person’s passport, a certificate of lodgement from the person’s household register may be submitted. In this case however you’ll need to fill in an additional application form. Make sure you double check all the details – this is where they will go to the death certificate from.

At the municipal service office, you can get a duplicate of the stamped certificate, which is equally valid and applicable. To get this copy you’ll need:

Original death certificate;

Your passport and the document that confirms you are a qualified applicant.

A written notice stating the reason why you need a copy of the certificate.

The original document is issued free of charge, whereas a fee of 200₽ is collected for the duplicate. It is strongly recommended to have a duplicate issued, against the possibility that the document is lost.